Plan not for the people you reach, but the people that they reach

11/19/2012

In April I was invited to go to Hamburg, Germany and talk about account planning and strategic planning for transmedia experiences. I got very sick following that trip and I'm just now getting around to posting it. I'm so sorry for the long delay!

This presentation includes two examples from AXE. One is a cross-media example where the same narrative is put into every media touch point possible. The second one is closer to a true transmedia experience where the narrative changes based on the medium. Soon I will share our AXE Susan Glenn campaign which is our best Transmedia campaign to date.

11/16/2012

We had a great media partner come into the office this week called Unruly Media. This is the group that owns the viral video charts that are sourced in Ad Age and other industry sites.

Here are the content triggers that they look for to test and predict the shareability of an online video. I wanted to share these with you to help create better content that will meet your propagation objectives.

CONTENT TRIGGERS:

1. Funny - AXE - "Wash Your Balls"

2. Hot - Agent Provocateur - "Kylie"

3. Shocking - Carlsberg - "Carlsberg and Mentos"

4. Unbelievable - Gilette - "Federer Trick Shot"

5. Controversial - Aides "Graffiti"

6. Gleeky - Blendtec: "Will it blend - iPad?"

7. Illuminating - Google "What is Chrome?"

8. Random - Cadury's "Drumming Gorilla"

9. Cute - Evian "Roller Babies"

10. Uplifting - T-Mobile "Liverpool Street Dance"

11. Moving -Nike "Write the Future"

12. Music -Toyota "Swagger Wagon"

CONTENT AMPLIFIERS: According to Unruly these are aspects of the video likely to increase, but not kick-start, viral sharing

07/19/2012

It's really strange to write these words "Griffin Farley Cancer Fund" but it's true, two months ago I started having some health issues and a month later I found out I had cancer. It's been a tough jouney the last 6 or 7 weeks but I'm out of the hospital now from my first surgery and back home recovering as a visiting Nurse comes by to check on me each afternoon. I still have a long road ahead of me.

One word continues to come up when people describe my Blogging style. That word is 'Generous'. Today I need to ask my readers to be generous and help donate to the Cancer Fund my brother set up. I've never wanted to ask anything from my readers but after 4 years this seems to be the right time to break that rule.

I really want to get back to work and back to Blogging. I can't wait to share the Propagation Planning thinking behind the recent AXE Susan Glenn campaign. I still have some presentations from Germany to edit and upload so I know I've fallen behind.

Have faith in me. Keep me in your thoughts and I know I'll get healthy soon. Let's get back to promoting the theory and practice of Propagation Planning.

05/21/2012

I found this image on the web and I had to save it to remind me that our powers in context planning can be used for evil. In this case somebody planned a media campaign for the insurance company Aflac and aligned this creative to appear anywhere that the language duck or ducks appear. In fact they probably use retargeting to identify people that tend to search for ducks more than others.

Sadly this advertising ended up in a very scary place for some people...

05/15/2012

Here are my SXSW Learnings. If you like what you read I recommend reading the book "Grouped" by Paul Adams it was the book I was reading while in Austin on that trip. The first section of this presentation is from that book.

04/10/2012

Lately I’ve had a few college students stop by the office and ask me how to break into advertising as a young account planner. When I have these conversations I touch on three things: 1) Market Economics, 2) Agency Percentage, 3) Other Ways In. This is a good time to share them with you as the semester winds down and students are ready to conquer the world of Advertising.

MARKET ECONOMICSWhen I arrived in San Francisco in the year 2000 people were tripping over advertising jobs. The Dot Com was in full swing. I decided to choose a city that I knew was booming… plus I knew agency recruiters were struggling to get people to choose agencies over online companies. Today the booming markets appear to be Dubai, Mumbai, Shanghai and Sydney. If you want to stay in the U.S., New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles appear to be stronger than other markets for young staffers.

I arrived on Sunday and interviewed with three agencies that week including FCB, Chiat/Day and Hal Riney. By Thursday I had two job offers but I still couldn’t get a job in account planning. Even with a great economy I had to start out in account service and move into planning. I know planners that started out in Media, Creative and even Office Services before getting a chance to be a junior planner.

AGENCY PERCENTAGEThe reason that I started out in account service is an agency staff percentage issue. In my experience most agencies have 3-5% of their staff strategists (we are lucky at BBH, it’s around 10%). In Agencies below 300 total staffers, they are going to have most of their planners mid to senior level so they can be client facing and add value and advice on day one. Agencies above 300 total staffers are more likely to have enough staff to warrant junior planners. Big agencies with big accounts are a great place to learn the fundamentals of account planning and then you can move to a more creative agency.

Those spots are precious and hard to come by where else can you look? Try to find the institutions that hire 80%+ of their staff as strategists.

OTHER WAYS INBrand Consulting Firms have a high staff percentage as strategists. They get to work on a new client and a new audience every 10 weeks or so. They get to travel the world learning how to moderate groups, lead brainstorms, concept new products and names and work closely with senior clients. They have been known to hire smart people right out of college.

I left Hal Riney to join a brand consultancy. I learned the fundamentals over 2-3 years and came back to agency life to work closer with creative teams. Here are some consulting firms that I like (mostly in markets that I know):

04/01/2012

The Head of Strategy position at any ad agency is a very demanding job. So demanding that they sometimes (not all the time) need recruiters or head hunters to help them find the best talent when they have open positions.

This is a list of account planning recruiters that I compiled over the last nine years or so. I know this does not represent all the recruiters out there but it should give people a start if you don't know any and are looking for new career opportunities. By making this information open and transparent I hope it will help match good strategic planners with good agencies. Bad agencies shouldn't have good talent.

If you are a student or a junior advertising staffer don't get your hopes up. Agencies rarely hire outside recruiters to find people with very little experience. They hire outside recruiters for tough to fill jobs. They get paid on finding good qualified candidates with experience. I worked as a brand consultant and junior account planner for 3-5 years before I could get the attention of a recruiter. Even then it was nearly impossible for the recruiter to sell me in that economy. Understand this and set your expectations before you reach out to them. I wish somebody had told me that.

You'll notice that I included the home base or city for each of these recruiters. That makes it easier to meet them in person but most recruiters handle job placements all over the country. Find recruiters that you have good chemistry with, understand the business and those that will sell your value. I have my personal favorites but I'll leave it up to you to find the right fit for your personality.